Day: February 18, 2018

This evening we are going to finish our series of “No-Names” by moving back to the New Testament. So far we have looked at three “no-names” in the Old Testament and two in the New Testament. With tonight’s post we will even the score and be reminded that these are but a few of the many in the Bible that their names were never given but they were used by God in some way, shape or fashion to carry out His plan. And most of the time doing so without being aware that they were playing such an important role. This continues in our story tonight found in the ninth chapter of John where we find the details of Jesus restoring the sight of a blind man. So let’s get on with the paraphrased version.

Jesus had just finished an encounter with the religious elite that didn’t end too well. They were quite arrogant about their father being Abraham and Jesus left nothing to the imagination when He said “Before Abraham was born, I am.” There was no doubt that He was stating the fact that He was God Incarnate and this made the Jews livid. They picked up rocks to throw at Him but He hid Himself and went out of the temple. This was certainly not from fear but from being aware that His appointed time to die was still ahead. Very shortly after that He saw the man who had been blind from birth and this is where our story begins.

During those days the Jews held to an unfounded interpretation of the scriptures that any person who was deformed or handicapped in any way was the recipient of God’s judgement for sin either they or their ancestors had committed. So this belief prompted His disciples to ask a simple question, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that caused him to be born blind?” Jesus responded with an unexpected answer. “Neither this man or his parents sinned but this happened so that the works of God could be displayed in him.” He then made clay from His own spittle and some dirt from the ground and applied it to the blind man’s eyes. He then told the man to go wash in the pool of Siloam and so the blind man did as he was instructed. In a short while the man returned and his sight had been restored.

This miracle caused quite a stir among the neighbors and they kept asking him what had happened to him. He kept repeating the story of his encounter with Jesus so they began to inquire where Jesus was. When he responded that he did not know they brought him to the Pharisees. The Pharisees began to ask him the same questions. What happened and where was Jesus. They were not believing that Jesus had done this for this man and became very concerned when the man called Jesus a prophet. They really thought that had Jesus this time because He had done this on the Sabbath. But to make sure, they began to question the man’s parents about what happened. They explained that the man had been born blind but they did not know how he was now able to see. Out of fear of the religious leaders they took the fifth and told them to talk to their son because he was of an accountable age.

At this point the Jews went to the man a second time and told him to give glory to God, not to Jesus, because He was a sinner. The blind man was so thankful for what had happened to him that he could not contain himself. His response to the Jews in verse 25 is one of the greatest testimonies in the Bible. “Whether He is a sinner, I don’t know. But one thing I do know. Though I was blind, now I see.” he stated. As they pressed the man further he didn’t hold back. He reminded them that this man had done something for him that none of them had done and they certainly couldn’t explain where He had come from. He even made the statement that Jesus had to be of God or He could not have done what He did. He put the religious, learned, pious elite in their place and they reacted by putting the man out of the temple.

If we follow the story all the way through, we will see that Jesus finds the man, confirms that He is God and the man believes. In other words, not only had the blind man been healed of his physical infirmity, but now He had been healed of his spiritual sickness of sin and made whole again. The Bible says He believed and worshipped Jesus. This is exactly what happens when one is saved.

This story reminds each of us that have been saved of how we were just like the blind man. We could not see, we had no hope and were on our way to a dreadful end. But jesus came by, Jesus had mercy on us, Jesus gave us spiritual eyes to see who He is and then, like the blind man, He healed us on the inside and made us one of His own. Oh, what a Savior! Oh Hallelujah! His heart was broken on Calvary. His hands were nailed scarred, His side was riven. He gave His life-blood for even me. I truly believe that this “no-name” blind man kept telling the story even though he had been put out of the temple. And who knows how many believed because of his testimony.

I think we should be reminded that we have only seen a glimpse of just a few people with unknown names in the Bible that God saved and used. But what about those countless others through the ages that have had the same encounter and experience and no one knows there names. But they are written in the Lamb’s book of Life and God certainly knows who they are. And I believe there are still many out there today that fit the bill. To God be the glory!